Union leader takes surprising stance on online-shopping flap

Santo Domingo.- Union leader Rafael ‘Pepe’ Abreu on Friday said he supports the Custom Agency’s tax on online purchases of less than US$200, a position which could further erode labor’s limited credibility.

He said that type of transaction is unfair competition to local industry and retailers and leads to lost jobs.

He said those businesses don’t benefit the lower class, but a narrow strata of society instead, “who have credit cards in dollars and manage Internet technology.”

“Internet purchases distort commercial activity because there’re people who obtain considerable amounts to resell it on the market, jeopardizing retailers and industry which pay taxes and wages,” said the president of the unions grouped in the CNUS.

Top mogul favors a balance

For José L. ‘Pepin’ Corripio, one of the country’s top retail chain moguls, the conflict should be resolved with a balance between “the rational, what’s right and what’s economically viable.”